Cape Town/ Johannesburg – The Fix the Patent Laws (FTPL) Campaign, today called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to end years of pharmaceutical company price gouging and broken promises for patent law reform and produce a final intellectual property (IP) policy and bill to amend the Patents Act.

The coalition released a detailed timeline revealing how broken promises by the DTI, and push back by the pharmaceutical industry have contributed to government’s delays in finalising reform of South Africa’s patent laws. [1]

“It is now more than two years since the period for public comment on the draft Intellectual Property Policy ended and the policy appears to have been shelved,” said Anele Yawa, General Secretary at the TAC. “Minister Davies has repeatedly ignored requests from the Fix the Patent Laws coalition for clarification on when the policy will be finalised and a bill to amend the Patents Act will be brought before Parliament.”

While the policy has stalled, the prices for certain cancer, HIV, and mental health medicines remain significantly higher in South Africa than in other countries, which prevents significant numbers of patients from getting the medicines they need. As a coalition of 18 patient groups we find these delays deeply concerning as they have a daily and direct impact on us and our members.

Amy Reed*, a woman living in Johannesburg who needs aripiprazole (branded as Abilify ®) to treat her bipolar disorder, struggles to cover its high costs. “Every month, my co-payment on Abilify is over R800.That is an obscene amount of money to be spending. I haven’t done anything wrong, I am an ill person, accessing medications and I am absolutely punished by the price for doing so.”

Tobeka Daki, a woman using the public health system in the Eastern Cape, is unable to access the medicine (trastuzumab, branded Herceptin®) she needs to treat HER2 positive breast cancer because its high cost renders it unavailable to public sector patients. “I was told that I must get Herceptin. So, why should I not get it? I think if I get this treatment it will give me a chance to see my two sons and my grandson grow up. I’m asking the government to please help the poor to get access to Herceptin.”

In our letter to Minister Davies [3], the FTPL coalition highlight 13 medicines for which generic and biosimilar products are available outside South Africa, but are blocked locally due to South Africa’s problematic patent laws.

If South Africa had access to prices available in India and/or Canada for generic and biosimilar trastuzumab, aripiprazole and celecoxib[4], then private sector patients and medical aid schemes could have jointly saved R191 million in 2013. Additionally, at lower prices, these medicines might have been made more widely available in the public healthcare sector.

Linda Greeff of the Cancer Alliance expressed her frustration at ongoing delays: “We need access to medicine now; many patients living with cancer are going from treatable to terminal while waiting for these potentially life-saving patent law reforms – it is heart wrenching.”

Breast cancer survivor, popular actress and supporter of the Fix the Patent Laws campaign, Lillian Dube said: “It breaks my heart that young women and mothers are dying because they can’t get access to life-saving medicines such as Herceptin. It is absolutely essential that women in need of Herceptin are able to access it.”

Since the release of the Draft Intellectual Property Policy in 2013, committing to pro-public health reform of SA’s patent laws, there have been significant efforts made by the large multinational pharmaceutical industry in the U.S. and Europe to sideline reform. The generic industry, by contrast, has generally supported reform. [5]

In January 2014 the Mail & Guardian uncovered a plot – dubbed “Pharmagate” – in which international pharmaceutical companies sought to influence South Africa’s patent law reform process through a US-directed and funded front organisation. [6]

In addition to the Pharmagate plot, leaked submissions to the DTI on the policy revealed that the American Chamber of Commerce and European Union backed their industries’ attempts to thwart pro-public health reform in South Africa. [7,8]

While the U.S. and European originator pharmaceutical industry are strongly opposed to the adoption of health safeguards into South Africa’s patent laws, these safeguards are expressly recognised in international trade agreements and recommended by multilateral agencies such as the United Nations clusters.

“It is unacceptable that Minister Davies is ignoring the pleas of South African people to urgently fix our patent laws and appears to be influenced by some pharmaceutical companies to abandon reforms to improve affordability of medicines,” said Vicki Pinkney-Atkinson of the SA NCD Alliance. “Our members need government action now – not in a couple more months or years.”

The Fix the Patent Laws campaign has been campaigning since 2011 for the South African government to amend its Patents Act and related legislation to increase access to more affordable medicines to save lives and safeguard health.

We are campaigning because South Africa’s current patent laws puts the rights of patent-holders before the rights of patients. Because of our current laws, many medicines are not available to the majority of the population because of their high costs, while patent holders able to make massive profits from charging such high prices.

The Fix the Patent Laws coalition advocates for full adoption of safeguards to protect health allowed under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) into South Africa’s national laws. Reforms recommended by the coalition include measures to limit abusive patenting, as well as to measures to ensure that legitimate patent barriers do not block access to medicines and medical technology.

The Fix the Patent Laws coalition is comprised of 18 patient groups and health organisations, including: the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), SECTION27, the South African Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance (SANCD Alliance), DiabetesSA, EpilepsySA, Marie Stopes South Africa, the Stop Stock Outs Project (SSP), the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), Cape Mental Health (CMH), the South African Federation of Mental Health (SAFMH), the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorders Alliance (SABDA), as well as the Cancer Alliance, including alliance members: the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), People Living With Cancer (PLWC), CanSurvive, CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa and Advocates for Breast Cancer.

[4] Trastuzumab is marketed as Herceptin and used to treat HER2 positive breast cancer. Aripiprazole is marketed as Abilify and used to treat major depressive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Celecoxib (marketed as Celebrex ®) is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

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About the Campaign

Fix the Patent Laws is a campaign of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). TAC is a non-profit organisation that seeks to ensure that every person living with HIV has access to quality, comprehensive prevention and treatment services to live a healthy life. Through this blog we will highlight how amending South Africa’s Patents Act 57 of 1978 will reduce the cost of medicines, improving the health and saving the lives of millions of South Africans.

Read the TAC and MSF campaign pamphlet

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Unless explicitly stated the views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Treatment Action Campaign